An Act of Gratitude
by Morghl
Summary: As Kyon is made to complete yet another task for Haruhi, he reflects on what he could do to repay one of his most trusted friends for what she's done for him. YukixKyon. First upload. K just to be safe.


There's nothing like a cliché beginning:

It was a normal day in the clubroom. Then again, just being this evil lair of madness made the day as abnormal as it could be, that is, with the presence of the apparently omnipotent girl which I had the misfortune to meet, Suzumiya Haruhi. Sometimes I wonder if it was a good or bad thing that I for no apparent reason suddenly spoke to the odd girl sitting behind me in the classroom and thus started what would turn out to be an unexplainable series of events that would be enough to send me to nearest possible madhouse if I suddenly told someone about them.

So anyway, as I was saying, four people were sitting in the clubroom claimed by the SOS Brigade. Sitting by the long table was me, and facing me was Koizumi, the ever-smiling esper, whom I was playing a game of Othello with. For being a person with psychic powers, he was incredibly terrible at board games. If anything, his habit of always maintaining that annoying-ass smile of his must be his most powerful ability.

Standing by the stove of the clubroom, which I by the way have no idea what it's doing there, not complaining though, was the ever so beautiful Asahina-san, wearing the maid costume that our kind and caring Brigade Chief brutally forced her into wearing every time she was in this room. Currently, she was brewing some of the heavenly tea that was reserved for us Brigade members. Seriously, why does she obey Haruhi so diligently? Her fragile and shy personality made it hard to picture her as a time traveller from the future.

Speaking of Haruhi, she wasn't in here yet. She was on cleaning duty today, but it was only a matter of time before she would barge in through the door and break the peaceful silence that roamed in here. With that beaming, blinding smile of hers radiating the clubroom, she would surely share one of her crazy ideas with us and force us to do all kinds of insane things as usual.

Oh yeah, I said four people were in here, didn't I? Well, I suppose you could guess who the last person sitting in here was. As a reply, the soft sound of pages flipping reached my ears. There, sitting by the wall next to the clubrooms only window, was the always silent Nagato Yuki. Her dark eyes were fixed on the thick hardcover book she was currently reading. I tried to get a better look at the cover, but failed to see what it was. The petite alien girl who was almost like a statue decorating this room was probably the most mysterious out of the weird members of the SOS Brigade, possibly with the exception of the godlike power wielding Haruhi.

Nagato flipped a page once again. Her expressionless face was completely still while her eyes scanned the contents of the paper, which I suppose was another of those foreign science-fiction novels. Every once in a while she would blink, but I have the feeling that she only did that to maintain her disguise as a contact-purpose humanoid interface. I'm not sure she needed to blink anyway.

As I mentioned earlier, it was what could be classified as a normal day in the clubroom.

Relatively calm at that.

You can't blame me for not being able to foresee the events that would take place hereafter. In contrast to every other person in this room, I am just an ordinary human. No special powers or anything. And since I have no strength to defend myself from whatever comes into my insane Brigade Chief's deranged mind, I simply have to obey and comply to whatever she says.

That's all I can do about it.

Even though this method does work most of the time, there have been various times when things have gone out of control. It was at these times that I had to count on the assistance of my fellow Brigade members. Koizumi Itsuki, although annoying, had indeed been of assistance more than once. Though his longwinded philosophical speeches made as much sense as Haruhi suddenly becoming calm and considerate. And geez, will you stop smiling like that, at least when Haruhi isn't around? It creeps me out!

"I apologize then, Kyon-kun. But I am afraid it is a habit far too deep to break."

I frowned at him, resisting the urge to smack him. The frown disappeared when Asahina-san placed a cup of that divine elixir on the table in front of me.

"Here you are, Kyon-kun."

Ah, it truly was a blessing to see that smile on her lips. The complete opposite of Koizumi's fake one, this one was 100% genuine.

Of course, Asahina Mikuru had helped me out at a few occasions as well. I had been with her to the past in order to maintain the safety of the future, but even though the power of time travel is a very useful thing, the tea brewing maid herself was just as frail as you would guess. If anything, I should be protecting her.

My trail of thought was interrupted by her gleaming puppy eyes, looking at me as if begging for something.

I simply smiled and nodded slightly. The need for verbal praise for her efforts in making this tea had been lost after spending so much time in this room. Indeed, she understood and smiled once again while proceeding to serve Koizumi.

"Thank you very much, Asahina-san. It is as delicious as always."

He can be a kiss-ass to whoever he wants to.

The maid then went over to Nagato's side and placed the teacup on the window board next to her. The alien didn't lift her eyes from the page at all.

That's right, I haven't mentioned what Nagato has done for me.

Well actually, it's a lot. A whole lot. If it weren't for her, I'd be dead before even knowing why.

A certain blue-haired girl came to mind.

If I were to compare Nagato's powers to anyone, it would be to Haruhi herself. This snow white, book-loving goddess was the one pillar supporting what was left of my safety. Even though it made me feel bad, it also felt good to have someone to place my complete trust on. And even though I'm sure she trusts me as much, I doubt there's anything I can do for her.

Snow white, huh…

A light bulb went up above my head just as the poor, pitiful door slammed in breaking the comfortable silence soothing my mind. Oh boy, it's time again…

"Kyon, I need you to do something for me!"

Not even a greeting huh? I should be used to this by now.

"I ordered a package last week and it should have arrived at the post office by now."

So what?

"I want you to go and get it for me!"

I figured as much.

"But I don't want you to peek inside! If I see one tiny little opening in the package, you'll have to face terrible consequences!"

If it's so damn secret, why don't you go get it yourself?

"I have things to do!"

Without any kind of mental preparation, Suzumiya Haruhi blasted me with orders like a waterfall crashing down a river.

Why can't she be reasonable for once? If you have to retrieve something of value, doesn't it make more sense to go get it yourself?

"You have been slacking off a lot lately! I wont tolerate such laxness from my underlings, much less from you, the lowest ranking member in the Brigade! Now get to work!"

I sighed. That's all I was, I guess. A mere slave to this godlike girl.

I gazed out through the window.

The leaves had fallen from every single tree by now. It was the end of autumn, snow should begin falling any second now. If I had any kind of luck, I would be able to avoid snowfall. I was less than barely well enough dressed to withstand the cold.

I equipped my jacket and waved goodbye to Asahina-san as I walked out of the room. Now let's see…

I would have to take one train and walk a few hundred metres to get to the post office. Not to mention the annoying hill I was currently descending. I stopped to look back towards the dull image of North High.

Hasn't something like this happened before?

I remembered the heater I had to pick up last year. So much time had passed, huh?

Haruhi better not come up with some crazy schemes while I'm gone. Better get this over with fast.

Compared to the two train stops I had to take to bring that hardly effective heater to the clubroom, this time it went kind of fast. There was a ten minute travel to the post office, and the distance between the station and the post office wasn't all that bad. Once inside, I showed the paper with instructions Haruhi had given me before my departure to the kind old man behind the counter and received the medium-sized package a few minutes later. Despite my complaining it was slightly enjoyable to spend some time outside the clubroom for a change. I was in a great mood when I noticed a shiny white dot on the cardboard box I was carrying.

It started snowing.

My mood dropped instantly. It's not like I hate snow, it's just that it came in the least desirable situation.

The ground was quickly covered in a shroud of white, fluffy snow. I decided to hurry back to school.

For some reason, the train station was cramped now. People were shoving as if fighting for entry to Noah's ark right before the Great Flood. Hopelessly trying to move forward, I suddenly heard the sound of paper ripping. A second later, a young man with an umbrella in his hand passed in front of me. I lowered my gaze to the box in my arms. A large hole had been opened along its side were the man had passed by. His umbrella must have ripped it up while he hurried past me.

I might as well write my will. Haruhi's gonna kill me.

Hopefully she'll be merciful and make short work out of it. I've never wanted to have a painful death.

Once inside the bumping, moving piece of metal (it took and hour. 60 freaking minutes!), I sat and thought about what I could have done to deserve the punishment I suddenly got exposed to. Had I angered God and made him claim revenge? In that case, I humbly apologize!

Oh, the irony. God just happened to be sitting in a shabby room in the Old Block of North High at this very moment.

Dry laughter came out of my lips. An old lady looked at me suspiciously.

* * *

"Took you long enough, Kyon! Who would have thought that a simple trip to the post office would take you TWO HOURS!"

My eardrums would have been disabled if she had yelled at me any louder. She had reached irritation level 1.

I was now standing at the doorway to the SOS Brigade clubroom. Haruhi had snatched the package away from my hands before I could say anything against it. Boy, was I screwed.

Koizumi seemed to have left already, and by the looks of it, Haruhi was about to leave as well, probably to look for me. Nagato was still in her corner reading a different book from what I saw earlier. She sure finished them fast.

But what caught my attention was Asahina-san. She was sitting by the table with her face buried in her arms, and from her back shaking uncontrollably I could tell she was crying. Seeing the bunny girl outfit on the floor, it didn't take long to figure out what had taken place during my absence.

"Oi, Haruhi, just what have you been doing while I was gone!? Why's Asahina-san crying!?"

She wasn't listening.

I couldn't see her eyes, but I could at least guess what she was looking at. I suppose this makes irritation level 2.

"Kyon…"

Please don't kill me.

"I remember specifically telling you NOT TO PEEK inside this box…"

I don't even know what's in it!

"Then how do you explain… THIS!" She pointed at the rip on the box with an exaggerated gesture.

I didn't do that! Honest!

Besides, I suppose since you were about to open it right now, it wouldn't matter if I saw the contents a few minutes earlier, would it?

"It doesn't matter! This is a first degree violation against Brigade Chief's orders!"

You've thought up a crime scaling system!?

"You will suffer immediate punishment! But first…"

Luckily, this girl seemed to have the ability to forget something she just said in an instant. Because now she was tearing the box apart. I couldn't help but be curious about the contents of the box despite my impending doom. I laid my jacket on Asahina-san's sobbing back while Haruhi revealed the top secret material I had brought here.

I face palmed.

Before my eyes was a black, furry, two piece cat girl costume with ears and paws included. It was even more revealing than the bunny girl costume, it could almost be considered underwear! This isn't good…

"Just who is going to wear that?" I asked although I perfectly knew the answer.

"Why, Mikuru-chan of course!"

The sobbing girl, who hadn't seen the outfit yet, instantly lifted her head and looked over to see it. She then squeaked and tried to deny Haruhi the right to dress her up at will while the latter slowly approached her with the look of a sadistic dungeon master preparing a painful assault on the heroes of a tabletop RPG.

She pounced over her defenceless victim who tried to escape, in vain. She started pulling at her clothes and rip them of to replace them with the dangerous black ones she had acquired just now. When she started pulling her shirt away, I had enough.

"Haruhi, you're going too far. Again." I said as I came in between both struggling girls and tried to separate them. I could see Haruhi's grin disappearing when I did that.

And thus, she had reached irritation level 3. At this point, no matter how many defensive spells I cast, I'm still going to be one-hit-killed.

"Kyon! What are you doing!? You defy your Chief TWICE in one day!?"

"I can't let you do whatever you want to people, can't you understand that yourself? Asahina-san isn't your doll to mess with!"

I had a flashback of the time when Haruhi and Tsuruya-san got Asahina-san drunk by slipping sake into her drink when we were recording the horrible movie for the culture festival. This was getting very similar to that incident.

I was suddenly grabbed by the collar. Staring at me was a wrathful demon from the deepest pits of hell. I started praying to an unknown god for my safety, even though I knew the only thing close to a god I could get was the very same person who was about to bring down my doom.

"I mess with whoever I want! Mikuru-chan is for me to play with! As the chief I have total authority over my Brigade members!"

Being the leader of a club allows you to scar the members for life!?

"Tomorrow you're receiving severe punishment! And Mikuru-chan WILL wear that outfit! I'll go home for now, you're of the hook for today."

And with those words, she shoved me down on the floor and grabbed her thick fur jacket on her way out. One last scowl displayed on her face before she closed the door.

I laid there on the floor, too mentally exhausted to move. It took every single ounce of magic points I had to stand up against Haruhi. Somehow though I had succeeded, at least for a brief moment. Maybe I should fake an injury to skip school tomorrow?

"Kyon-kun…"

The lovely voice from the lady I somehow managed to save didn't work at all to restore my lost energy like it usually did.

"Thank you… But I don't think Suzumiya-san is very happy now…"

Oh really?

Even so, I forced a smile and said:

"It'll work out." Somehow.

Asahina-san smiled slightly, but she still had tears in the corners of her eyes.

"I'll go home now… We'll think of something tomorrow, okay?"

She stepped out of the room and waved goodbye with a smile. I kept my own forced smile and waved without getting up from the floor.

"Take care."

I dropped my cheery act just as the door closed. She didn't seem concerned about my wellbeing this time, she didn't ask if I was okay as she would usually do. Though I'm not blaming her. She must be too mentally exhausted to care about others.

Thump.

I suddenly remembered that there was another person in the room. Nagato shut her book and put it away in a bookshelf. After walking over to me, she kneeled down beside me, which surprised me slightly.

"…"

"…" I copied her.

"… Are you okay?"

Her smooth voice had just a tiny ounce of worry that I doubt anyone else would have noticed otherwise. I have become quite good at reading Nagato's emotions through small, barely noticeable gestures.

What surprised me now was that she actually asked. Even though we haven't been through any situation were she would ask such a thing and I thus wouldn't know how she would act, I still felt awkward.

However, I still answered as I usually would, unsurprised.

"She just shoved me down, nothing serious."

"I can see that your physical structure has not been damaged. However, I cannot see your mental status. Should I rephrase the question?"

"Don't bother."

"I see."

…

"You still have not answered my question."

You sure are persistent today Nagato. That's unusual of you.

Her large, onyx eyes stared deeply into mine. She then stood up and held out a hand for me.

"Thanks." I said as I stood up.

The snow kept falling quickly outside. What I could see through the clubroom's window was covered in a thick layer of pale white not too different from the whiteness of the hand that had just helped me up.

I then recalled what I was thinking before Haruhi burst in through the door today. I had thought I could finally repay Nagato at least a little for what she's done for me and let her have a good time, but it was too late now. I didn't feel it was the right moment anymore.

I once again equipped my jacket which Asahina-san had been kind enough to place on one of the room's foldable chairs on her way out, and prepared to leave for the day. This would be the fourth time I walk that hill today, wouldn't it? I sighed and started to make my way to the door.

Then I felt a familiar feeling of someone tugging on my sleeve. It was a tug so light I could barely feel it, but it still sent shivers down my spine as I remembered that shy, fragile Nagato I once met in that alternate reality last year.

Her silent, stoic counterpart met my eyes when I turned around.

"What's wrong?"

"Your body language indicates that you have something else you want to say."

Her emotionless, yet somehow serene words hit the mark perfectly. It was as if there were big, glowing signs telling me that now was the perfect moment to bring up what I had given up on just a moment ago. Not wanting to let this opportunity slip away, I asked her.

"Would you like to go to the library again?"

I saw a glint in her eyes that probably no one else would have been able to see. The microscopic amounts of excitement I could see in them was enough to answer my question. And no, I'm not sarcastic. What humans would see as little, means a lot for Nagato.

Seeing that instantly removed any worries I had for tomorrow. I'll just have to make sure this alien girl has a good time.

* * *

_Author's notes: Yeah, this is my first upload on this site. It's also the first fanfic I've ever written since I prefer to do my own work, and my language is a little stale, so forgive me for that. I really love Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu, and specifically the YukixKyon pairing. I tried to recreate that slowpaced feel of the episode called Some Day In The Rain, which is one of my favourites in both the anime and the light novel. Any kind of review is gratefully accepted, I am an authos in the progress and I need feedback. Love it or hate it, point out any errors, I'll read all of it. Also, if this recieves enough positive feedback, I might go on and write a second chapter (no, I'm not bribing you). Have a nice day._

_Disclaimer: Of course, I do not own Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu, none of the characters are my creations. Only the scenario is mine._


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